Scrumptious (10 page)

She saw a quick flash of Joe’s tight stomach as he stretched out on his back. Her blood began to warm at the sight of his hipbones and the delicate line of hair heading south from his navel. She licked her lips, dying to run her tongue along the smooth hollows of muscle and bone, right here, right now. If they had been in a backyard, instead of the parking lot of the Lutheran Church, she could imagine doing just that, closing her eyes and learning his skin with her mouth. And then wrapping her body around him and
—

“Sorry, what?” Marlene came back to earth at the sound of Joe’s voice.

“I could really go for some Thai food,” he repeated. “Does Norton have a good Thai restaurant?”

“A couple in Amherst, by the Boulevard Mall, if you feel like driving,” Marlene offered.

“I don’t. Can I cook you dinner tonight?” he said.

“Sure.” She’d never had a man cook for her. The idea made her feel peculiar. “My place?”

“Great.” Joe pushed himself to his feet and held his hands out to pull her up. “Are you done shopping yet?”

“Almost.” With a firm tug, Joe pulled her up to her feet, hard enough to send her bumping into him. He caught her around the waist and pulled her toward him. His lips were salty from the homemade potato chips he had purchased from a farmer earlier, which reminded her of the salty crème brûlées.

As his lips coasted over hers, she pondered the mystery.

The crème brûlées in her reach-in must have been covered with salt yesterday morning. She had assumed the white granules wouldn’t take the torch because they were damp, even though they hadn’t looked it. Now she realized that sugar would have been wet, partially liquefied from the overnight moisture of the custard and the cooler. She hadn’t been paying attention because she had been thinking about Joe. Salt doesn’t melt, it burns, and she should have realized something was screwy when she torched them. Instead, in her frustrated haze, she had piled dry sugar on top of the salt and fired away.

Marlene kept her revelation to herself and concentrated on his mouth. Their kiss had started out sweet, but now his tongue swept against hers with familiar, demanding strokes. She knew where this was going, and she was glad. She’d worry about sugar and salt later, after she talked to Olivia. The restaurant was closed for the moment, but Joe wasn’t going to be around much longer. In fact, he’d be at his father’s house for half the week. She wanted to enjoy him while she could.

“Are you sure you’re not done shopping?” Joe said against her lips.

“I’ll shop fast.”

Marlene sped through the rest of the market to pick up the items that the vendors had put aside for her, and Joe collected his own bag of supplies for their dinner.

“Drop me off at my truck, and point me toward a grocery store. I need to stop at Olivia’s to pick up a few things and shower. Your place in about an hour? Sound good?”

Yes, yes it did.

When they pulled up beside Joe’s truck, parked in the street in front of Chameleon, the word “asshole,” was written in the dirt on the driver’s side door.

“That’s the problem with having a black truck,” Joe said. “People feel like they have to write their name on it.” He cleaned it off with his fist.

“Lucky they didn’t use a car key.”

“No kidding,” he said, giving her a kiss that she felt everywhere. “See you soon, sugar.”

Joe cruised around the block on the off-chance Keith had hung around to witness the reaction to his graffiti. The quiet block was pure midsummer Sunday. He turned his truck toward Olivia’s house.

He was shocked that he felt peaceful. All day he had been waiting for the guilt to kick in
—
or the boredom. Instead, he felt lust. Watching Marlene work ten brunch tickets at the same time had been the hottest thing he’d ever seen. He’d been half-hard all afternoon watching her fly around the kitchen.

This was a first for him. He had gone to bed with her, woken up with her, worked all day with her, and then asked her to have dinner with him, with the intention of falling straight into her bed when the dishes were done. When had he ever spent that much time in the company of the same woman?

Never.

Maybe his conscience was quiet because it knew Marlene was his last fling, that he was going to find himself a nice virgin with marriage on her mind the minute he crossed the California border, a girl who would have made his mother proud. His enthusiasm for that idea seemed to have gotten lost with the guilt he should have been feeling for breaking his vow to his mother again.

He needed to stop trying to think of new ways to get Marlene naked and do something useful, like figure out what was going on at Chameleon and who was responsible. He should at least be thinking about what he was going to say to his father on Tuesday, because that was going to be difficult. He should absolutely be planning a kick-ass menu to impress the resort chefs in California.

Yeah, that just wasn’t happening. He couldn’t pull his brain out of neutral gear. It was not his usual MO, but then nothing had been usual about his life since he got to Norton. He wasn’t feeling even a hint of the usual bored itch, the desire to start fresh and find something new to try. He’d been plenty restless before he got here. Did he even want to go to California anymore?

He didn’t have a choice.

No
more
sluts
.

For a second, Joe wished Marly didn’t have so many admirers. He shook his head at his hypocrisy and decided not to sweat it. He’d be ready to go when it was time. He and the road were good friends. Its call would eventually drown out Marlene’s unexpected siren song.

Joe pulled into Olivia’s driveway. The garage door was open and her car was parked inside. He entered the kitchen through the garage.

“Olivia? Where y’at, kiddo?” Joe called.

“In here.” Her voice was soft. Tired.

Joe walked into the dining room and found her sitting at the table and staring at her laptop. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. My lawyer’s on the way over here.”

“On a Sunday?” he asked.

“Sean’s an old friend. Actually, we went to high school together.” Her cheeks reddened.

“Better tell him someone called the health department on Chameleon. We got a surprise visit today,” Joe said.

“Are you kidding me? Oh, shit, I wasn’t even there. Did they find anything?” she asked.

“Not really. A couple of random citations. I think he only wrote us up so he could come back. I told him to bring a friend and check out the dining room next time. Seemed like the thing to do. Hey, look on the bright side: he said it was the cleanest kitchen he’d been in all week.”

“Thanks to you,” she noted.

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, kiddo. That’s why I’m here,” he said.

“I shouldn’t need you.”

“All women need me.” Joe got the response he was going for with that remark. Her laugh eased him.

“Hey, you want to bring the lawyer over to Marly’s? I’m cooking Thai,” he said.

“You and Marly, huh?”

Joe shrugged.

“About time. You were starting to worry me, cowboy. Is that where you were last night?” Olivia chuckled at Joe’s terse nod. “Thanks for the offer, but I think we’ll stay here.”

“I filled Marly in on all the drama at Chameleon. Any special reason you didn’t tell her?”

“Denial?” She looked depressed again.

Joe noticed a bottle of wine on the counter, and he gave Olivia an assessing look. Maybe he should insist that she come to Marly’s with him. Olivia was in no condition to make big decisions. “Olivia, are you sure it’s a good idea to sleep with your lawyer?”

She didn’t blink. “A good friend of mine told me to get laid.”

“Yeah, he may have been rushing things a bit,” Joe admitted. “Are you sure you’re ready to move on?”

“I never should have been here in the first place.” Olivia leaned back against her chair and stared at the ceiling.

Joe put his hand on her shoulder. “In that case, I recommend you have at least one drink before the lawyer gets here.” That got another smile out of her. “I’m going to shower and head out. You sure you don’t want to join us?”

“Ewwww, no way.”

Joe grinned.

She pointed toward the basement stairs. “Take a couple bottles of wine with you. Pick good ones. The wine cellar was Keith’s baby. At least sometimes he had good taste,” Olivia sighed.

Joe kissed her on the forehead. “Sometimes he had great taste, kiddo.”

***

Marly answered the door wearing a thin summer dress and no bra that Joe could detect. Her feet were bare, and her hair was wet. The farmers’ market ingredients were piled on the island. “Where’s Sam?” he asked.

“Thomas just picked him up.”

Joe kicked off his shoes and stared at Marlene’s ass while she opened the bottle of Cabernet he’d snaked from Keith’s cellar.

He wanted to cook for her, he really did. But he also wanted to hike her dress up to her waist and bend her over the island. She handed him a glass of wine. “No pressure, but I’m not wearing underwear.”

He set his wine glass on the counter. “Lady’s choice: kitchen or bedroom?”

In reply, Marlene pulled her dress over her head and threw it on a kitchen chair. She stood before him, perfectly, gloriously naked.

Joe restrained the impulse to flip her around, press her to the counter, and slide into her. Barely. And, really, only because the smug look on Marlene’s face dared him to do it.

He reached out to brush one hand over her collarbone with a feather light caress. He continued down over the curve of a breast, then under it. He pinched her nipple. She gasped.

He was going to take her slow, just to torture her. He enjoyed teasing her. She could take it. She was used to fooling around with guys she could wind around her little finger. Guys who slunk off the porch and called in sick to work when they didn’t get what they wanted. He was not one of those guys.

He moved south, keeping the maximum amount of distance between them as his fingers glided through her folds. She felt like satin ribbon spooling through his fingertips. He watched the gold flecks spark in her eyes as she moaned.

“Yes, right there,” she breathed. “Don’t stop. That feels incredible. A little bit harder and…yes! Oh my God.” She braced her elbows on the island and watched his hand move between her thighs.

Joe sped up the motion in slow increments, sometimes adding a finger, sometimes taking one away, but never losing contact with her. He didn’t let her go over the edge, but he never let her come down from it either.

When her walls finally broke around his fingers, Joe sank to his knees and buried his face between her thighs. Tasting soap, salt, and Marlene, he searched out the sweet center of her pleasure as she rippled around his tongue. He wanted to make her come again. He sucked and stroked until her little screams shredded his control.

Now, he thought, rising swiftly to his feet.

He ripped a condom out of his pocket, shucked his jeans to the floor and pulled his shirt over his head. He picked her up, groaning as she wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed down on him. He muscled his way across the kitchen and sank into a chair at the cherrywood table.

With Marlene riding him, he forgot to breathe. She rocked against him, tight, then rose above him, slowly squeezing him in a liquid vise.

When she paused, he finally remembered what his lungs were for, but forgot again when she arched her back to rest her weight on his thighs and began to squeeze and release his cock without moving a muscle that he could see. Circular, tight, stunning. Loose, wet, heating him up.

Joe knew he should do something. This was supposed to be his show. Marlene sank into his lap, undulating, giving a gentle shimmy of her hips. God help him, he couldn’t move. All he could do was watch, and let her pull him wherever she wanted him to go. It was her show now, and he had the best seat in the house.

Joe gave himself to her, his breath harsh in his ears. His blood roared. He was dazzled by the goddess rising above him, ruling him, making him hers. Every second felt like an orgasm as she spun him out, stretched his control beyond the limits of his endurance, carried him along with her. Her golden eyes held him captive as her hips mastered him.

She leaned down to place a slow, melting kiss on his lips. His heart swelled with the rest of him. It nearly choked him.

Did Marlene feel it too? Tenderness? Awe? He opened his mouth to ask her, but she silenced him with a kiss, and he forgot his question as she broke him into pieces with the driving, unprecedented, rhythm of her perfect hips. He poured himself into her, felt her walls shaking, his pulse pounding in time with hers, as if they were one body.

From a distance, Joe could hear cursing. There was also giggling, and he was pretty sure that was only coming from Marlene. She collapsed against his chest, panting. Her forehead pressed into the crook of his neck, and her arms clutched his shoulders.

He was still inside her, and he was certain that if he was ever going to be able to move again, it wasn’t going to happen until she stopped shaking. Every few seconds, her body caressed him, and Joe couldn’t think while she trembled around him.

“God, you are so much fun,” she groaned into his neck.

Fun? Joe’s heart skipped a beat. Fun seemed a little…well, light. Marlene kissed him again. There it was, that connection, that heat. It made Joe’s heart jump and then slam unevenly in his chest. Was he the only one who felt it? The casual smile Marlene gave him as she lifted her body and swung a graceful leg over his lap made Joe think that he was. He reached for the condom before his cock could shrink completely.

Sex, he reminded himself. This was just friendly neighborhood, casual sex. A fling. Right. He could do that. He was good at it. He didn’t want anything more than sex. He was leaving, and even if he wasn’t
—

“I’ll be right back,” he said.

Marlene had her dress in one hand and her wine glass in the other. She didn’t seem affected at all, damn it.

Joe padded down the hall to the bathroom in just his socks. He ignored the empty feeling in his chest. It didn’t matter. Marlene was just another girl.

Still, a mocking voice in his head wondered if his mother might have been right, that Joe should have stayed away from loose women after all. Because the only thing worse than sleeping with sluts would be falling in love with one. Was that what she had meant? Fooling around could get him in trouble? It might, at the very least, be bad for his heart.